Reading Red Letters » devotional

31 Days of Wishes: Wish #6

Lindsey — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:52:32 +0000

Today is the beginning of week 2 of Advent . . . and I’m already behind in my Advent devotional (Love Came Down: Anglican Readings for Advent and Christmas). I used to be VERY good about spending some time (even if it was only 10 minutes) every day either reading the Bible, reading a devotional, etc. Once I got to college, I fell out of this habit and I really want to get back into it. I thought that I would do that with this book at the start of the church year, but I have been failing miserably so far. I pray that I can get into this habit and keep it – my spiritual life will be so much stronger if I can!

Preparing for Advent

Lindsey — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:01:40 +0000

My favorite time of the year is Christmas, and as I learn more about the church year, I realize that Advent is my favorite church season. From Wikipedia:

Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming”) is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas.

Since Advent begins tomorrow, I’m preparing for it this weekend. Some of my favorite Advent activities include:

Making an Advent wreath and lighting it throughout the season (we’re doing this tomorrow after the church service).
Listening to Christmas music from the church (current favorite: Christmas with the Tallis Scholars)
Watching the old Disney cartoon, The Small One. I watched this as a child, and now as an adult it makes me cry!

This year I am also going to make an effort to work through an Advent specific devotional. I’ve done this in the past, but I’d love to get back into the habit. I’ve chosen Love Came Down: Anglican Readings for Advent and Christmas for this year’s readings! What are some Advent traditions that you honor every year?

For more Advent celebrations, check out the Third Annual Advent Carnival!

A Look at Faith and Culture

Lindsey — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:22:31 +0000

I’ve been reading excerpts from the new book A Faith and Culture Devotional: Daily Readings on Art, Science, and Life on Scott McKnight’s blog this week – he’ll be posting them all week. This looks like a really interesting book (of course I’ve already added it to my Amazon wishlist), and if I do post it, I’m definitely post a review on here. From the book’s website:

Readings in Bible and Theology, History, Philosophy, Science, Literature, Art, & Contemporary Culture

Learn and Grow with Christian Thought Leaders including Dallas Willard, John Eldredge, R. C. Sproul, Randy Alcorn and many, many more.

Explore significant ideas, people, and events from a Christian worldview in a format that fits your busy life. A Faith and Culture Devotional will help bridge the artificial gap between learning truth and loving God…

And from Amazon:

Explore significant ideas, people, and events from a Christian worldview in a format that fits your busy life. A Faith and Culture Devotional will help bridge the artificial gap between learning truth and loving God—inspiring you with the wonder at the genius, power, and beauty of Jesus Christ.

Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington offer a daily guided tour through many of the paintings, laboratories, rock arenas, great books, mass movements, and private lives that have shaped the ways in which we think and live. This educational devotional will inspire us to go beyond critique to creativity as we discover the wonder of God in seven subjects—theology, history, philosophy, science, literature, art, and contemporary culture.

The book’s editors Kelly and Lael have also created a blog and will be posting regular updates with more insights along the same vein as their book. Be sure to check it out, it sounds really interesting!

Joe Thorn’s Quiet Time Series

Lindsey — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:41:08 +0000

Joe Thorn Has been writing a very interesting series about the act of a “quiet time,” or time spent in personal devotion to God. There are some very interesting points that both he and his commentors make. I urge to to check this out – here are the posts in this series so far:

The Quiet Time Series
1. Not a Cleansing Rite
2. Defined
3. My Failure
4. What is it Good For?
5. Advice

*Updated 2/27/07 to add #5